You Can’t Afford for Your Practice to NOT be on Social… Here’s My Plan for You [Episode 180]

Hi, my friends. Did you know that 80% of people use social media for health information, and two-thirds choose one practitioner over another due to their online presence? And on top of that, I learned this from Dr. Lauren Brunslig from her mentor, Rory Vaden, says 61% of people want their doctor to have a personal brand.

Did you know all of this? Okay, so this episode is not here to, like, give you, like, pressure or make you feel like you're behind. I hate content that makes you feel that way. But I do want you to know that this is no longer just something that's like, "Oh, yeah, we get to our social media when, when we can."

Like, it's just really not... As my business coach would say, it's not neutral anymore. Like, it's not really, um... Like, it's a, it's a non-negotiable now, right? This episode, we're gonna talk about a couple different things, like how long does executing a full social media plan actually take. And I'm gonna give you, like, um, some tips for tracking your ROI, and I'm also going to talk about, like, a little mini challenge I have for you.

So, let's dive in

Hey, welcome to Holistic Marketing Simplified. This podcast boils down to the fact that we wholeheartedly believe that more humans need to know about holistic health solutions, and you didn't go to school to learn how to be a full-time content creator and show up on Instagram and do all of this marketing stuff all day, every day.

So let's come hang out while we chat all things easing your marketing, and my goal is that you shift your mindset around your marketing from a, quote, "should" to a, "I get to." More dream patients and clients? Yes, please. Hi, I'm Caitlin Ross, a virtual counselor based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and I love listening to the Holistic Marketing Simplified podcast.

Okay, so the stats that I talked about in the beginning, like I said, that was not meant to be like, "Oh my gosh, I'm behind." Like I, I literally, um, just to like empathize with you for hearing that, I had to remove myself from the Claude algorithm because, like, uh, you know, running an agency and stuff, like, I felt like every single post I was seeing on my Instagram was making me feel like I was monumentally behind the eight ball.

I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a terrible business owner." So if, if y'all don't know this, like, fun little tip, you can just usually press the little three dots on a post and just say, "I'm not interested," and then you can say, like, "This content is not relative," relative, "Relevant to me," and, um, you'll stop seeing, like, all that content.

So I do that all the time. Like, sometimes when I'm click on like an online business guru's ad or something, then, oh, my algorithm becomes just like, "I made $40 million in five seconds while I slept." And so I have to, again, like touch the three dots, and "I'm not interested in this content, don't show me this anymore" and then like, you know, go search some funny cat videos or something.

So anyway, like I said, I say all that not to make you feel like you're behind or scare you, but I, I truly do think, like, the... And obviously you're like, "Yeah, Molly, if... When, you know, you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So of course it serves you to say this." Guys, like I, I didn't choose this. Like I, I would, I would just pivot.

Like, I would pivot to something else if this... I trust in my ability to take my relationships to a different, like, I don't wanna say modality, but you know what I'm saying? Like, if I didn't really think this was the place to go all in, I just wouldn't do this for my business anymore. So of course when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, but this is truly having a strong, um, Instagram social media presence in 2026 is just non-negotiable.

If you ask, like, a lot of younger people too how they research healthcare providers, like this is 100% it. Like, it's, this is not something I make up, right? So obviously still your tried and true relationships, word of mouth referrals, like of course that is still gonna be like a huge driver, and, you know, social media, I've done episodes on this before.

Well, it was just the last episode I did on doubling down on your current patients, how that Is such a, like, that's, like, the cheat code. Like, if you really want your Instagram to perform better, faster, getting your current patients involved, like, that kind of feeds into that referral-based practice type thing.

It's like your Instagram page just almost, like, gives it a little extra fuel if you, you know, really heavily re- rely on referrals. So if you haven't listened to that episode, go back to the previous one, and you'll definitely, definitely love it. So, okay, so this episode isn't gonna be super long, but I'm just gonna give you, like, a couple, like, really tangible things that you can do.

So first, um, I kinda wanna talk about ROI. So it's funny, like, I completely understand that if you're gonna be spending time and energy on money and money on something, you wanna be like, "I wanna see my ROI." But when it comes to organic Instagram content, it is not that straightforward. I would be a gazillionaire if it was.

We-- I mean, I have screenshots. You can go to my Instagram management page and find them, or you can go to my Holistic Marketing Hub sales page and find screenshots of testimonials of clients and students who, you know, people literally write down on their intake form, "How did you hear about me? Instagram."

But that does not mean that that is the only patients or clients that Instagram is driving to your clinic. I wish it was that easy and straightforward, but that's just simply not how it works. And you know this, but I get it. As a business owner, you're, like, seeing dollars out, and you're like, I... You know, you wanna be able to see what it's bringing back to you, right?

So let me just give you a little anecdote at how organic Instagram marketing, like, really works. So for example, my-- I always talk about my business coach, but she has POTS. I have POTS. My symptoms are very well managed because I have been going to an upper cervical chiropractor for, like, two years, okay?

And so I was like, "Hey, it's-- I know it's annoying when you get a diagnosis," and she's, like, pretty newly diagnosed. "I know it's super annoying when you get a diagnosis, and everyone's like, 'Have you tried this? Have you tried this?'" But I told her about the great results I was getting from my chiropractor, and she kind of just looked at me like a deer in headlights, like, terrified 'cause of all those, like, really stupid Y-strap crazy aggressive popping videos.

She's like, "Hell no, I am not going to the chiropractor." And I was like, "No, no, like, let me just, like-" I promise it's not like that. So the next time, um, I showed her the, my chiropractor's Instagram. I'm like, "This is what upper cervical chiropractic looks like." And then I also took it a step further and took a video of MJ getting adjusted, um, 'cause she goes there too, and, uh, once she saw it, she was like, "Oh," like, "That's not at all what I thought."

She's like, "I just don't want anybody popping my neck." Once I showed her that, she was like, "Okay, I get it." So on the in- she's not local to me, but I'm just saying for the point of my story, let's say she had been local to me, and then she did make an appointment with my chiropractor. On the 'how did you hear about me?'

she wouldn't have written Instagram even though Instagram was the thing that showed her that it wasn't scary, and it showed her that it was the right office environment for her. It was the thing that really, like, brought home, like, my recommendation planting the seed, but what was on their Instagram is what really, like, clinched it.

She would've... On the intake form, 'how did you hear about us?' She would've written my name, right? It also works like that with Google. Like, maybe someone's Googling chiropractor near me or whatever And they come up on Google, and then they, to do a little more recon, 'cause your website, you know, should... If you have a website that's done well, you definitely should have, like, photos and, like, more personalized stuff on your website.

But at the end of the day, your website still can't show as much personality as, like, your Instagram can, right? And your Instagram's being updated, like, all the time, whereas your website's more static. So let's say they, like I said, they find you on Google, they come to your website, and then they click over to your Instagram.

They, like, get a feel for the personality and the vibes, as the kids say, of your practice. And again, that's what actually was, like, the clincher for them to book. Um, so what are they gonna write on, "How did you hear about me?" It's gonna be Google, right? Or maybe they drive by and they see your sign, and they look you up.

Like I said, it's just like, yes, sometimes it is literally as direct as, "I heard about you on Instagram," and that happens, like I said, all the time. But it's also not always. It's really more about having that consistent... I always use the word, like, this is not just, like, a catchphrase buzzword. I always say become the go-to practitioner in your area, and having a consistent presence on Instagram is how you do that.

Now, I wanna take a step back, like, off my soapbox and just say that, like, I can completely feel for you. Like, you went to school for a long time, and here we are, people choosing their practitioner based on what they're posting on Instagram. Like, I'm sure that sucks for you. Like, I totally can imagine how frustrating that must be.

And yet, I don't make the rules, right? Like, it just, it is what it is. So if you know, like, you know, however many years ago, 30 years ago, you were like, "Okay, I know that if I don't have an ad in the yellow pages that no one's gonna find me," like, that's just the way it was. You know what I mean? Like, I don't make the rules.

It's just the way it is, guys. So let's jump on board. Fun fact, did you know my first job out of college was selling ads in a newspaper? And that was in 2008. Newspapers were, like, already on their way out. I was very poor. It was very funny. Anyway, I also wanted to give you, like, another little anecdote. I was on a discovery call with a, um, potential, potential new client for my Instagram management agency, and she's like, "Yeah, I booked this call because I was like, 'Ugh, crap, we can't put this off any longer.'"

She's like, "I just had a patient who had a baby. This patient has been with us for a long time, and they started taking their baby to the chiropractor down the street." This clinic, they were actually the ones that were more qualified than the clinic down the street to see babies. But guess what? The practice down the street was posting about babies on their Instagram.

So their very own, like, very own chiropractor, they took their kid somewhere else because they were posting about it more I didn't make that up, I promise. That actually happened. So it's just crazy, like I said. So my point is, this is not something that can be, like, put on the back burner any longer. I've got a challenge for you at the end, and I'm actually gonna talk to you next kind of about the actual time it takes, because the next thing I want you to really consider is whether or not this is something that you truly wanna take on yourself.

So I get it. Like, usually you kind of boils down to two things. You either have time or you have money. So you're, you-- only you know the answer to that. But I especially see this with women, where you just keep beating yourself up over and over and over again, thinking that you're, quote, "bad at time management," because you're somehow remarkably supposed to do it all.

Like, that's just, like, a bunch of crap. Like, and you know what? It's not even about time. This is kind of what I was telling, um, I just hired a new, um, like, right-hand COO, and she's been amazing. And I told her, I was like, "Look, it's not like I don't have time to do everything on my to-do list," right? But it's like once I've reached a certain part of my day, as Brene Brown would call them, my cognitive dollars are gone.

So it's not like, okay, technically, do I have an hour on the, on the, the clock to do this thing? Yes. Do I have cognitive dollars to do this thing? Hell no. And I feel like that's where your social media comes in, right? And, and I get it. Like I said, like, you're busy seeing patients, you're running a practice, you probably have a, a family or social life or whatever.

Like, there's nothing wrong with you if you can't miraculously get all of this done yourself, okay? You really have to ask yourself the question of are you going to like, "Okay, I love social media. I'm truly gonna do this myself because it's something I wanna do," or do you need to get it off your plate?

And what does getting it off your plate look like? Well, what I highly recommend, even though I run an Instagram management agency, I mean, right now we're, like, bursting at the seams with inquiries, but you're always welcome to join the... We've kind of gotten to the point now where we can be really selective with our clients.

So please at least DM me, or you can go to my website and join the wait list to see if it's the right fit, if we've got space. At the time I'm recording this, we don't, but, I mean, you never know what can change from week to week. So yes, you could hand it off to an agency like ours. We're really good at what we do.

Our clients, like, really never have changes. It's very, very rare Or what I really recommend is passing it off to somebody in your office. And if you're a solo in practice, I've had many, many people have success hiring a patient. Um, for those of you who are new to me, that's how my business started. I was a former corporate-- I told you about my newspaper selling gig but then I was in medical sales for six years.

I was like high up the corporate ladder. I had a team of 17. I traveled. I had all of Southern California and Hawaii. Like, I was in medical sales, and when I had my daughter, I was like, "Ugh, I don't wanna do this anymore," so I quit. And when my daughter was about a year old, my chiropractor, who my daughter and I both saw, she asked if I wanted to help her with her Instagram, and the proverbial rest is history.

So, you know, maybe you find a patient. Maybe, um, like I said, you have-- you-- if you don't, like, maybe you have a front desk or a CA or an associate who has hours. Um, or, you know, maybe you just hire a virtual assistant or something like that. But I, I really think it's better if you have somebody in the office 'cause then they can come take video for you, which is the, um, bonus.

I've had multiple-- I don't have like a-- I used to have like a freebie that was like a job description and stuff. I don't have that live anymore. If you want me to bring it back, I can, but I mean, now with AI, it's not that hard to hire for this. I actually just had one of my students in the hub who said she just hired one of her patients, and it's going really, really well The next question comes into, okay, great, like I hired-- I either hired somebody to help me locally, or I said, "Here, Sally, at the front desk, it's your job," and it's still not getting done, or it's still not being done properly, whatever.

It's like, well, it's probably because it was literally told to them in that way, and it was very vague, right? Like, it was like, "All right. You're in charge of social media too," and they're like, "Okay." Like, "What does that mean? How many times a week do you want me to be posting?" Like, like, "How are we tracking this?"

Like, all of that type of thing. Just so you know, I teach that in full inside of the hub. Like, and that's why a lot of people join the hub is because they-- Like, when I, I do monthly, like, office hours or whatever, and a lot of times on those monthly calls, it's not the practitioner, it's actually their CA or their front desk or office manager or whatever going through my program and learning on behalf, like, of you, like, for you.

Okay? So on that same note of time, like, what can you expect reasonably? I just got this question inside of the hub actually from a myofascial release therapist who asked, like... 'Cause I, I have a whole lesson inside of the hub on how to batch create two weeks' worth of content. Um, I choose two weeks because I think anything beyond two weeks is just, like, overwhelming.

Two weeks feels like a good cadence to me. You can do a week if you want, whatever. But anywho, she asked me in Circle, that's the platform the hub is hosted. She's like, "How much time does this actually take? Like, I feel like I'm spending too much time on it." And I was like, that's such a great question, because even for the girls in my agency who have been, you know, creating content for family chiropractors for...

You know, s- I've had several girls on my team for five and six years. We average, we, we estimate around 30 minutes per post, and that's only once we even have all of the assets. So that's not even counting, like, filming the video, you know, planning things out. Like, basically, I give them a content plan every month, and then they go into the client's folder, like the video the clients have given us, and then we, they execute on the content plan.

Now, 30 minutes per post is not-- Like, that's just an average. Like, some posts take us 10 minutes. Some carousels might take us an hour to create. But here's the thing to know about the stuff. Like, I just reposted a carousel of mine that went viral. I just reposted it for the seventh time, and it went viral again So just something to know if you haven't heard me preach repurposing, if you spend a lot of time making a carousel, cycle that puppy back in a couple months later, okay?

Like, this is not a one and done, but I didn't-- I don't wanna like get too far off topic. But my point is, let's say you're posting 16 times a month, like around four posts a week, that's a minimum of like eight hours a month. So I feel like again, like there's a lot of this content in people's feeds that are like, "I just created 27 years worth of content in seven seconds using Claude."

I'm like, "I mean, you could do that, but it's gonna be crap." Like, you're gonna get like... I mean, will we get there eventually? Who knows. Maybe it'll be amazing. As it is right now, we use Claude, like every single one of our clients has a, their own project that's been fed with their brand voice and even their emoji preference, okay?

But it still takes time, right? But what I'm-- I guess like the whole, if I'm boiling it down, like what is the point of this episode? The point is, it is worth the time, and it is not something that can really be afforded to be pushed off longer, is what I'm trying to say. And I'm also just trying to say like, if you can't magically make it all get done, I know I've already said this, but I just feel the need to repeat it, there's nothing wrong with you.

Like, it's just a lot, okay? Now, that is like, like I said, if you were-- you're implementing like a full on social media strategy, and I do have, if you're in the hub and you're listening to this, make sure, I just added about a month ago, make sure you see it. I added a checklist of a sample daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly deliverables, like in an ideal situation.

Like if you were an agent-- if you were like in our agency on our top tier package, like this would, would be like what you'd be getting. But I also want you to know this is not an all or nothing mindset. You know how I was talking about how like, let's just say 16 posts a month, you know, I would, I would estimate around eight, eight hours, e- like, you know, and like I said, it doesn't include like the actual filming part.

Your, your practice might already be like pretty busy, and you're just looking for like some maintenance, then scale that down to two posts a week, okay? And then your average is gonna be, you know, around four hours and some change a month I forgot one thing I was gonna tell you about ROI. Google Search...

So sorry, I'm gonna go to my challenge next, I promise. But, um, I don't wanna forget this. Google Search Console now has the ability for you to add Instagram and Facebook or whatever as, like, a traffic source. And so not only can you add that to your Google Search Console, it'll also tell you what words people were searching to find you.

I would not sleep on this. It's actually on my to-do list to do for myself. I haven't done it for myself yet. Um, I was gonna do it and make, like, a, a video and, like... Actually, maybe at the time this airs, it'll be done. I have so many irons in the fire right now. You get it. Um, but anyway, it should be pretty self-explanatory.

You literally just go to Google Search Console, and if you don't know how to do that, you just Google it. Like, guys, you just Google everything, and now that's, uh, makes me sound old 'cause I'm 40. People ask AI everything. I personally, this is another little side quest I'm taking you on, Claude and ChatGPT are not good for asking, like, how to do things.

They, they get stuff wrong all the time. I use Perplexity when I need, like, a step-by-step tech tutorial, by the way. So anyway, Google Search Console, you can add your Instagram, and then you'll actually start being able to see how your Instagram is bringing you traffic, like, directly. Like I said, sorry, that, that bullet point was under my ROI conversation, and I skipped it.

Okay, so let's get back to how I'm gonna end this episode. Let's get back to, like, the challenge I have for you. So you know how people are like, "What's your strategy?" And, you know, every- everybody says stuff like Don't throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. I was just winging it. As like, if that's all really bad things.

But here's the deal, like I saw this other reel yesterday, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I so agree with this girl." It was really funny. She's like, "How do I get better and more consistent at content creation?" It was like... And it was basically like the video of this guy doing the whole like F around and find out thing.

And that is exactly what I want you to do. So my challenge to you is to post 20 pieces of content, let's say, over the next five weeks, okay? That's four posts a week over the next five weeks. And I want you to not overthink a single one of them, and I know this is easier said than done. But here's why I'm hoping I can convince you not to overthink them.

We're just gonna look at this as one big playground. I posted something last week that I thought, and I don't f- I didn't think, I know is a really good message that you need to hear, but it didn't perform very well. So rather than thinking, "Ugh, nobody wants to hear from me," I'm just like, "Oh, I'll just tweak the hook."

The hook probably needs a little bit of t- And what I'll do is I'll post on the same concept and just iterate, iterate, iterate. And so that's what I mean by testing, okay? So I want you to just like give yourself permission for 20 posts to go out and just like don't overthink it and don't look at the analytics of each individual one until all 20 are posted, okay?

And at the end of those 20, then you can go back and look at your analytics. To do that, you just go to your professional dashboard from your profile, and then you tap content you shared, and you just see what, what are peop- what got the most views? What got the most comments? What got the most saves? And just check, like just see what's resonating with your audience, and then you just get to double down on those concepts more and more.

Okay? That is all I do. And so that's why I've told you in the past, if you've listened to previous episodes, once you really... Like, this is what I tell people when I teach my how to batch two weeks of content lesson because part of the content that you slot in, I- it's like a puzzle, right? It's like, okay, here's puzzle piece one, puzzle piece two, when I'm, like, putting in the different, um, um, types of content for the two weeks.

Part of that puzzle is going into your analytics and doubling down on content that has already performed well. And so once you have done, like, a solid two to three months of consistent posting, this crap gets so much easier. All you have to do is just, like, I'm not saying you're gonna repost the exact same thing, but like maybe you keep the same exact hook and you just change the video in the background.

Like that's why I love the edits app for reels because you can go in and duplicate your reel and literally just change out the video, do a different song, do the same exact text, the same exact caption, and post it again. I just told you, y'all, my email list is growing by three to four people a day for free.

And a lot of you are not in the online business space and don't really know what that means, but that is really good for the fact that I am not running ads. I'm not anti-ads, it's just, again, I've been in a little bit of a like overhaul season of business and it's just not one, one of my top priorities right now.

And so... And you know, average lead's like around seven bucks, so I'm getting like 90 something leads a month for free from my Instagram all on n- not, I don't wanna say non-original content. It's original to me, but like, it's like the same... I have, like, these three or four, like, hero posts that keep performing well.

And all I do is I change, like, if it's a carousel, I change the cover slide and I leave the whole... Say it's 10 slides of a carousel, I change slide one and keep slides two through 10 the exact same and the caption the exact same. If it's a reel, I just change the video and keep the cover the exact same.

And I just keep doubling down on that, and that's what you get to do. I mean, I mix in other stuff too, right? But I'm just saying, like, I teach this in full inside the hub too, like how to, how to layer this in. But even if you're not in the hub, my challenge to you is to, like I said, just post like 20 things.

Don't overthink it. Just look. Like, just, you know, the only way you're gonna get better and faster is by doing it, okay? So maybe if you do have a team member and you wanna give them a challenge and you're like, "Hey, if you get out 20 posts in the next five weeks, I'm gonna give you a $100 bonus," or something like that.

Like, whatever it is that you've gotta do to get this done, you can totally do it. And if you wanna know how I recommend, not, I don't wanna say layering, but like rotating different types of content, then you can go back to some of my older episodes where I talk about this. Hold on. Let me find the episode number for you.

We'll also link it in the show notes. Episode 90, nine zero, Creating a Content Ecosystem for Instagram. All right. I'd love to know what you thought about this episode. Like I said, I'm here to help. The... Please, like, come join us in the hub if you haven't already. It's such an affordable membership, and it's, it's just...

And so every Sunday I give you four really specific post ideas, and then I tell you how to tailor it to your niche. And just today I woke up to a comment in Circle, which is where the hub is hosted, that, um, f- of a student who literally joined the hub two days ago. She hasn't even watched any of the training videos yet.

Like, I have people who join just for the post ideas. She's like, "Hey, I just did idea number two and woke up to more views than we've ever had." So at the bare minimum, join it for the content ideas. But yeah, the link for the, link for that will be in the show notes, or you can just go to my website, mollycahill.com and work with me and you'll see the link for that there.

I hope y'all have an amazing rest of your day, and thanks for letting me spend some time in your ears. Thank you for listening to Holistic Marketing Simplified. And hey, you know how every podcaster at the very end of their episode asks you to rate and review their podcast? Well, that's because it's super important.

These podcasts take a lot of time, and heart, and effort to produce to bring you free information. So in order for me to be able to continue doing that, we need more people to find out about the show. So if you could please just take like two minutes out of your very busy day to leave me a rating and share this on your Instagram stories and tag @mollyacahill.

That's C-A-H-I-L-L. I would greatly, greatly appreciate your support. I know your time is valuable, and I can't wait to see you in the next episode.